Splitting-machine.



J. M. BENJAMIN.

SPLITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APBJI. 1911.

Patented Deo. 24, 1912.

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SPLITTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED APB. '1. 1911.

Patented Deo.24,1912.

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J. M. BENJAMIN.

SPLITTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION zILBD APRA. 1911.

Patntea 139024,1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MILTON BENJAMIN, F BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOEMACHINERY COMPANY, 0F PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Application filed April 7, 1911.

sPLITTING-MACHINE.

Patented Dee. 24,1912. Serial No. 619,570.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J ons' ill. BnNJAMiN, acitizen of the 4United States, residing at Beverly, in the county ofEssex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain lmprovements'inSplitting-Machines, of which the following description, in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like referencecharacters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several ligures.v

This invention relates to machines designed for use in the manufactureof boots and shoes and is herein set forth in connection with a machinefor cutting from a sheet of leather-board or similar material a strip ofdesired width and for splitting the strip so cut intotwo symmetricalportions irrespectiveof variations in the thickness of the strip.

' )The particular purpose of the machine is to produce beveled stripsfrom which wedgeshape'd heel lifts may subsequently be died out, but itshould be understoodV that the beveled strips may be used for otherpurposes if desired.

` Machines have been known comprisingr two feedrolls, an angularlymovable knife and connecting means between the knife and one of therolls whereby the angular position of the knife varied with thethickness of the stock passing between the rolls. Such machines,however, have been capable of acting upon strips of a given width onlyowing to the fact that a given extent of movement of the transverselymovable roll produced a predetermined and fixed extent of angularmovement of the knife.

Accordingly one feature of the present invention consists in theprovision with a plurality of feed rolls, an angularly movable knife,and connecting means between said knife and one of said rolls wherebymovement of said last .named roll transverse to its axis serves to movesaid knife angularly, of means for varying the extent of angularmovement ofthe knife which corresponds to a given extent of movement ofsaid roll. In the illustrated embodiment the knife is angularly movableabout a fixed axis which passes through the outer corner of the edge,and the inner side of the knife is raised and lowered by means of alever which in turn is actuated by movement of the bearing of the upperroll, the lever being mounted upon an adjustable fulcrum, the positionof the fulcrum determining the extent of angular movement of the knifewhich eorrespondsto a given extentV of movement of the bearing of theroll. And preferably the parts are so arranged that the adjustmentreferred to above serves also to vary the initial angular position ofthe knife.

When narrow strips are to be operated upon it is necessary to adjust theknife at a considerable angle and in order to provide for suchadjustment and at the same time maintain the edge of the knife in closeproximity to the bite of the rolls, another feature of the presentinvention consists in the provision of a'construction whereby one of therolls may be adjusted longitudinally; and in the illustrated embodimentthe upper roll is splined to its driving shaft and may be movedlongitudinally thereon.

These and other features of the invention includingcertain details ofconstruction and combinations of parts will be described in connectionwith the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 is a frontelevation of a machine in which the present invention is embodied; Fig.2 is a side elevation; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3 of Fig. 2 showingthe mounting of the splitting knife for angular adjustment; Fig. 4 is adetail showing the means for accomplishing longitudinal adjustment ofthis knife; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective showing the connectionbetween the upper roll and the splitting knife; Fig. 6 is a detailperspective showing the operation of the, splitting knife and thesevering knife; and Figs. 7, S and 9 are cross sections of strips whichhave been split on this machine.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, the feed rolls shown at. 1,and 3 are carried by shafts 5 and 7 which in turn are rotatable inbearings 9 and l'l. The shafts have fast to them intermeshing gears 13and l5 the teeth of which are of sullicient length to permit the shafts5 and 7 to be separated withoutI interfering with the mesh of the gears.A guard 1G is provided 'for the protection of the operator. 'lhe lowershaft has fast to it a large gear 17 which meshes with a sinallei'gear19, this last gear being fast to a stub shaft 21 which is furnished withthe usual fast and loose pulleys 23 and 1 said wedge being slidable upona portion of the frame 29. A screw 37 provided with a handhold 41 andheld from longitudinal movement by means of an ear 39 on the wedge isthreaded into the frame.`

Referring now more particularly to Figs.

2 and 5, the bearing for the upper roll is provided with an extension 43pivoted at 45 and normally held in the position shown by a spring 47which engages with its upper end the under side of the extension 43 andwith its lower end a nut 49 threaded upon an upright bolt 51, the nutserving-to vary the tension of the spring when desired. As best shown inFig. 1, a set screw 52 serves to limit the downward movement of thebearing for the upper roll. `With the construction thus far described,if the shaft 21 is rotated and a piece of leather-board or other stockis fed to the machine, the upper roll will rise and fall in accordancewith any inequalities in the thickness of the stock.

The mechanism by which the angular position of the knife is caused tovary with the vertical position of the roll will now be described. i

Referring more particularly to Figs. 3 and 5, the knife 53 is rounded atone side as shown at 55 and is held in a correspondingly shaped socketin a bracket 57 which is fast to or integral with the frame o'f themachineso that the knife is free to be adjusted angularly. Theopposiyteside of the knife is held by a carrier comprising a cylindrical supportor holder 59 which isI free to move angularly in the correspondinglyshaped socket in a plunger` 61, the lower part of said plunger beingcylindrical and free to move vertically in a bore of the bracket 57.-This plunger has formed at its upper end a yoke through the arms ofwhich passes a pivot 63, said pivot also passing through one end of thelever 65 the opposite end of which is pivoted at 67 to the eXtension 43.This lever is slotted to receive a 4fulcrum block 69 which is pivotallyheld by a bolt 71 upon a slide 73, said slide being mounted upon asuitable guide 75 and being adjustable thereon by means of a screw 77.rlhe `guide is fast to the frame of the machine, and the screw, which isprovided with a handhold 7 9, is threaded through the pro-' jection 81on the slide 73 and is held from longitudinal movement by means of ayoke '83, as shown. lt will now be evident that as the upper roll risesthe plunger 61 will rise thereby raising the right hand or inner side ofthe knife as viewed in Fig. 3, the cylindrical holder or support 59turning slightly` in its socket during the movement, and as the roll islowered the reverse movement of the knife takes place. It should benoted that the angular movement of the knife takes place about an aXiswhich coincides with a median line through the outer side of the knifeand that consequently the outer corner of the cutting edge of the'kniferemains stationary. The knife is normally held against rearward movementby means of a screw 85 the shank o-f which is threaded into the bracket57 while the head engages the rear end of the knife. The knife may beadjusted rearwardly, however, by loosening said screw and moving theknife in the desired direction, a handle 87 being provided to facilitatesuch movement of the knife.

In order to provide for feeding of the stock, a table 89 is fastened tothe memberl 27 by means of bolts 91. This table is formed with adove-tailed guideway 93 to receive the slide 95 of a stock guide 97 saidguide being provided with a slotted eXtension 99 through which passes aclamping screw 101 which is threaded into the table 89 and serves tohold the stock guide in adjusted position. Projecting from the stockguide are a plurality of rods 103 to prevent the fingers of the operatorfrom being caughtinthe rolls. A severing or trimming knife 105 isadjustably held in position by means of bolts 107 and a holder 109; andit will be understood that the distance from the trimming knife to thestock guide determines the width of the strip which will be severed fromthe sheet of stock.

As has been stated, the present machine is adapted to sever from a sheetof stock a strip of desiredwidth and to split the strip into twosymmetrical portions irrespective of its thickness.

With the parts of the machine properly adjusted the operation is asfollows: Power having been applied to the shaft 21 a sheet ofleather-board or other material is fed to the rolls with its edge incontact with the stock guide 97. A strip is severed from the sheet bythe knife 105 and then this strip is split on an angle by the knife 53.If there are any inequalities in the thickness of the strip, the upperspring pressed roll will rise ymetry being maintained irrespective ofvariations in the thickness of the strip. As soon as the strip has beensevered from the sheet and split in the manner described, the remnant ofthe sheet is again presented to the machine; and this operation may berepeated until the sheet has been entirely cut up. Let it be supposedthat the cut referred to above is the one illust-rated in Fig. 7, thatthe strip is approximately equal in width to the width of the knife andthat it is now desired to produce the cut shown in Fig. 8. The lowerroll will be lowered until the strip is so positioned that the outeredge of the knife will pass through the lower corner of said strip; andthen the handheld 79 will be Vturned to adjust the fulcrum block 69forwardly so as to lower the inner portion of the knife to properposition. If it is now desired to produce the cut illustrated in Fig. 9the roll 3 is lowered still further and the fulcrum block properlyadjusted. Thus far, strips have been considered the width of which wasequal approximately to the width of the knife. If now the stock guide 97is adjusted-so as to cause the machine to produce a narrow strip, forexample, one-half as wide, it will be evident that only the outer halfof the knife will be effective and that now the extent of angularmovement of the knife which corresponds to a given extent of transversemovement of the roll must be increased in order to cut the strip intotwo symmetrical portions. The adjustable fulcrum provides for thisrequirement since the farther the fulcrum is moved to the left, asviewed in Fig. 5, in order to increase the angle at which the knifestands initially, the greater the extent of automatic angular movementwhich corresponds to a given extent of transverse movement of the roll.

In the present machine the knife 53 is comparatively wide and mighttherefore come into contact with the upper roll, if the knife wereadjusted for narrow strips. The upper roll is accordingly splined to theshaft 5 as indicated at 111 and can be adjusted along said shaft so asto permit the inner side of the knife 58 to be raised suiliciently; andin order that this longitudinal adjustment ofthe roll may not interferewith the action of the severing knife 105, the roll is provided with aplurality of grooves, as shown, in any one of which the upper portion ofsaid knife may be received. The width of the strip which can be split inthe various ways described is therefore limited only by the width of theknife, and any strip of a width less than that of the knife may beoperated upon.

Having described the nature of my invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1s:-

1. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pluralityof feed rolls for advancing a strip of stock, an angularly movable knifefor acting upon stock so fed connecting means between said kmfe an oneof said rolls whereby movement of sard roll transverse to its axisserves automatically to move said knife angularly, and means foradjusting the initial angular position of said knife, said 'last-namedmeans serving also to vary the extent of automatic angular movement ofsaid knife.

2. A machine for splitting a strip of stock of a given width into twosymmetrical portions irrespective of its thickness comprising aplurality of rolls, a knife mounted for angular movement, connectingmeans between said knifeV and one of said rolls whereby movement of saidlast-named roll serves automatically to tilt said knife, and means foradjusting the initial angular position of said knife to accomlnodatenarrower strips; said adjustment also serving to increase the extent ofangular movement of the knife which corresponds to a given extent ofmovement-of the roll.

3. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pluralityof feed rolls, one of said rolls being transversely movable, a knifeangularly movable about a fixed axis, a plunger movable transversely ofthe bite of said rolls, an angularly movable support for said knifemounted in said plunger, and means compelling said plunger to move withsaid transversely mova le roll.

4. A machine of the class described having, in combination, two feedrolls, a rigid bearing for one roll, a ielding bearing forv the otherroll, an angu arly movable knife, means for adjusting the initialangular position of said knife, connecting means between said knife andyielding bearing, and means permitting adjustment of said yielding rolllongitudinally.

5. A machine of the class described having, in combination, two feedrolls, a rigid bearing for one roll, a yielding bearing for the otherroll, an angularly movable knife, means for adjustingthe initial angularosition of said knife, connecting means lietween said knife and yieldingbearing` and a fixed knife arranged at an ,angle to said angularlymovable knife, one of said rolls being longitudinally adjustable toprovide space for the adjustment of the angularly movable knife andbeing provided with grooves to receive said fixed knife.

6. A machine of the class described having, in combination, a pluralityof feed rolls for advancing a strip of stock of a given width, acomparatively wide knife for acting upon a strip so fed, said knife`being angularly movable with respect to the bite of said rolls,connecting means between said knife and one of said rolls whereby theangular position of said knife varies automatically with therthieknessofthe strip of stock, Aand means for adjusting the angular lposition oft'he knife lto accommodate narrower strips, one of said rolls beinglongitudinally adjustable to provide space for the adjustment oftheknife.

7. A machine of the class described having, in combination, two feedrolls, one of said rolls being transversely movable, an angularlymovable knife, connecting means between said knife and one of said rollswhereby the angular position of said knife varies with the distancebetween said rolls, means-for adjusting the initial angular position ofsaid knife, said means serving` also to. vary the extent of movement ofsaid `knife which corresponds to a given extent of movement of saidroll, and a fixed knife arranged at an angle to said angularly movableknife, o'ne of said rolls being longitudinally adjustable to providespace for the ad justment of the angularly Amovable knife.

8. A machine of the class described having, in combination, an angularlyadjustable knife, tvvo rotary shafts and feed rolls Copies oi thispatent may be obtained. for ve cents each, by addressing the mountedupon said shafts, one of said rolls ing, in combination, a plurality ofcoperating feed rolls, shafts upon which said rolls are mounted,bearings in which said shafts are rotatable, one of said bearings beingmovable toward and from the other and having an extension, a springacting upon said extension to force one roll'toward the other, a slottedlever pivoted to said extension, a knife, a carrier therefor pivoted tosaid slotted lever, and a fulcrum for said lever adjustable in saidslot.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of -two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN MILTON BENJAMIN.

lVitnesses CHESTER E. ROGERS, LAURA M. G-ooDRIDGE.

Washington, D. C.

Commissioner of Patents,l

